If they must do it, couldn't the architects be super creative ... acknowledge the history & what it means to people and build the stores around it (please no more smelly candles though!!!) ... people would respect that more than just razing it and putting up "another mall" ...
_________________HANALEI TIKI

...and one of the few places you can get Dole Whip.
...and one of the few places where the souvenir vendors compete directly against each other.
...and one of the few places a frequent traveler can buy small-yet-meaningful mementos.

There is just nothing else like it on the islands - the "marketplaces" on the other islands pale in comparison. If we do lose the International Marketplace, then certainly a number of years from now there will be quite a wave of nostalgia when people realize what they have lost and get tired of the commercialism of the Waikiki area and long for something less plastic and less "mainlandish."

Seeing the International Marketplace again is a *great* excuse for another trip to the islands.

If you want Sak's, stay on the mainland and shop there. I sure hope there is enough of a local outcry to save the IMP.

So glad I took a ton of photos the last time I was there. And it pretty much was the only place I bought any trinkets to take home with me.

Just posted it everywhere tiki related I can think of. Noticed 9 more signatures in just 10 minutes. With a cumulative total of another 6,000 possible viewers, hopefully there can be a measly 266 that take the time to sign it.